With advances in automated assembly technologies, many manufactured goods are now assembled without any handling by a human operator. However, for more complex assembly tasks, or for assembly volumes that do not justify the cost of automation, a human operator still most efficiently performs the assembly.
By way of example, in the electronics manufacturing industry, the use of surface mount technology (“SMT”) components and automated pick and place equipment allow printed circuit boards (“PCBs”) to be rapidly populated by a machine. While many PCB assembly tasks may be automated in this manner, certain manual intervention may be required. For example, it may be necessary to manually position one or more “through hole” components (components with leads that extend through holes in the PCB board) on the PCB after most of the assembly has been completed.
In a typical PCB assembly station setup, through hole components are selected by an assembly station operator from a plurality of component bins, and then manually placed by the operator in the required location on the PCB. Well-trained operators may become very efficient in their assembly tasks. However, eventually, the operator will introduce some assembly faults, either due to a faulty component, or due to incorrect placement of a component by the operator. These assembly faults, if caught downstream at a testing station, may require time-intensive re-work. In some cases, re-work may not be possible, and an assembled workpiece may have to be discarded in its entirety at a significant cost. In other cases, assembly faults may not be properly detected, possibly resulting in serious consequences if the workpiece is, for example, an important component of a safety system.
Thus, what is needed is a system and method for guidance of assembly that may reduce the occurrence of assembly errors due to component faults or incorrect placement by an operator.